Hand-protecting mitten



1951 s. E. FREEMAN ET AL HAND-PROTECTING MITTEN Filed April 5, 1949INVENTOR; 5Y4 1 58 75/95 7'77EEMA/V BY Mir/v5 GSTEWART 77Z477Z0WW vmanATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 16, 1951 OFFICE- HAND-PROTECTING MITTENSylvester E. Freeman and Wayne G. Stewart, Akron, Ohio Application April5, 1949, Serial No. 85,535

1 Claim.

This invention relates to hand-protecting mittens, and more particularlyto a protecting mitten formed of a relatively impervious,corrosiveresisting, flexible material, such as rubber, and adapted to beworn over conventional gloves or mittens, if desired.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide an improved,hand-protecting mitten especially provided for industrial workers, suchas miners, metal-workers and chemical workers, such mitten havingrespective reinforced openings in the opposite ends thereof, one ofwhich openings receives the wrist of the wearer, and both of whichprovide a ventilating air passage through the mitten to eliminateexcessive sweating of the hand encased therein, rubber poisoning of theskin, and other undesirable effects of unventilated mittens formed ofrubber or similar relatively impervious materials, which mitten can beeasily and economically manufactured by a conventional dripping process,may be provided with a lining of any one of various materials, such asfleece, wool or canvas, if desired, is extremely durable and resistantto abrasion, corrosion and tearing, and is neat and attractive inappearance.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from a considerationof the following description and the appended claim in conjunction withthe accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a top plan view of a mitten illustrative of the invention;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal cross-section taken on the line 2-2 of Figure1;

Figure 3 is a transverse cross-section taken on the line 33 of Figure 1;and

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a fragmentary end portion of themitten opposite the wristreceiving end.

With continued reference to the drawing, the mitten comprises a hollow,thin-walled body of flexible material including a portion 10 of a shapeand size to receive the wrist, palm and fingers of a hand, and a portionll of a shape and size to receive the thumb of a hand and communicatinginteriorly with the interior of the portion H]. The portion l isprovided with a Wristreceiving opening l2 surrounded by a reinforcingbead i3 and is provided, at its opposite end,

. with an elongated, ventilating opening I4 surrounded by a reinforcingbead [5. A neck portion is is provided adjacent the reinforcing bead l3,and a short neck portion I 1 is provided adjacent the head 15.

The mitten is preferably formed of a suitable flexible,corrosion-resistant and substantially impervious material, such asrubber or synthetic rubber, and may be made by a conventional dippingprocess in which a shaped form is dipped into a rubber solution toprovide a coating on the form which coating is allowed to partially dryor harden, and is then measured and trimmed and rolled to desiredlengths. The reinforcing beads l3 and i5 may be conveniently formed byrolling the material before it has been vulcanized and stripped from theform, these rolled beads being hardened by the vulcanizing process.After vulcanization, the mitten is stripped from the form and otherwisetreated.

The mitten may be provided, if desired, with a lining of any suitablematerial, such as fleece, wool, or canvas, which lining may be appliedin any convenient manner. For example, the lining could be applied tothe dipping form before it is immersed in the rubber solution and therubber caused to form a coating over the lining carried by the form andbeing firmly adhered to the lining during the vulcanizing processperformed on the rubber.

The provision of the wrist opening l2 in one end of the mitten with theneck portion IE adjacent this opening loosely surrounding the wrist ofthe wearer, and the ventilating opening I4 in the opposite end of themitten assures the passage of a sufficient quantity of ventilating airthrough.-

the mitten as the mitten walls are separated and brought together, andotherwise folded and ma nipulated by movements of the hand therein, toforestall excessive sweating of the hand encased in the mitten, and tosubstantially eliminate such undesirable results as rubber poisoning ofthe skin of the hand, serious irritation or blistering of the skin andover-heating of the hand.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiment is, therefore, to be considered in all respects asillustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention beingindicated by the appended claim rather than by the foregoingdescription, and all changes which come within the meaning and range ofequivalency of the claim are, therefore, intended to be embracedtherein.

What is claimed is:

A hand-protecting mitten comprising a, hollow body of substantiallyimpervious flexible sheet material including a first portion adapted tofit about the wrist, palm and fingers of a hand and a second portionjoined to and communicatin interiorly with said first portion forreceiving the thumb of a hand received in said first portion,

said first portion having a wrist-receiving opening in one end and aventilating opening in its other end, said ventilating opening having awidth materially less than the width of said first portion and saidfirst portion having reinforcing beads disposed one at each end thereofand surrounding the corresponding openings and neck portions disposedone adjacent each of said reinforcing beads, the neck portion adjacentsaid wrist-receiving opening being of a size to loosely i surround thewrist of a person wearing the mitten.

SYLVESTER E. FREEMAN. WAYNE G. STEWART.

4 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 228,790 Slack Mar. 30, 1886482,647 Obear Sept. 13, 1892 1,337,879 Bean Apr. 20, 1920 1,578,127Hynes Mar. 23, 1926 2,033,626 Garnmeter Mar. 10, 1936 2,335,871 MilliganDec. 7, 1943

